Okay, I'll admit it. Knitting can require patience.

One thing that all knitters hear, ALL THE TIME, is "oh, I don't have the patience for knitting!" And all knitters make pretty much the same response: "I knit because I am NOT patient." When you are a knitter, you always have something to keep you occupied, and you never have to 'be patient' while in line, at a doctors office, waiting for the movie to start, etc because you have knitting you can pull out to keep you occupied. I, for one, am not patient. I like knitting while listening to music. I like knitting while talking to friends. I like knitting when I am on break at work. All because I do not want to sit and do nothing, i.e. "wait". I am not patient.

So what do I mean, knitting can require patience? Well, sometimes (okay most of the time) I screw up and have to tink back stitches to correct a mistake I made. Or I have to make a stupid swatch to see if I have gauge (I don't often do this). Or, worst of all, I have to rip back several hours of work because I f*d up. Hence why this half-way done glove:

Now looks like this:

Boo! I was almost done with the thumb increase! Almost to the easiest part of the glove! What happened, you ask? Well, I have already done the right glove. The way the pattern is written (it is Women's Lace Gloves for those of you who care, found at Free Vintage Knitting Patterns), you look at the first and second pages (the right hand glove) for the lace pattern, and once you are on the left hand glove you just flip over to pages 3 and 4 for increases and other instructions. But you still have to look at pages 1 and 2 for the lace pattern. The pattern is quite easy, and I have it memorized. BUT, sometimes when you are drinking or something your memory is not quite as good, so I still refer to the lace pattern. Well, the thing is, I blew right on into the thumb increase and didn't bother to turn the page. Even sadder, I didn't notice until last night at work. I had finally increased enough that I could slip it on to my hand and see how the pattern looks and how the glove fits. It looked quite beautiful, so I decided to compare it with the first glove. I pulled it out of my knitting bag, and realized that it should go on the same hand modeling the second glove. Crap.

See? They are both laying palm up, and the thumb increase in on the same side. Crap.

Even more depressing, I used larger size 2s for the first glove. When I got to the fingers, the fingers were baggy so I switched to smaller size 2s (I need to learn the metric sizes, huh?). Since the first glove is a bit baggy, I decided to knit the left glove with the smaller 2s. It does look better, and if they are much different I will reknit the right glove with these smaller needles, hence why I haven't woven in the ends yet. Judging from this picture, I will need to reknit the right glove.

And guess what I just thought of? If I am going to do that, I should NOT have ripped back the left glove, I should have designated it the reknit! Shit! Shit! Too late now.

In happier news, it was my birthday and this was my cake. It wasn't bad, but it was more like a two-layer brownie than a cake. That is what I get for being vegan, I guess.

While I was outside taking pictures of my bullshit glove project, the cats ventured out with me. Ditto looks like a big, fat raccoon. Stubbles looks like a bitchy hairy poof, as usual. And yes, as evidenced by the pictures of the gloves as well as this one, it is totally gray outside. Gray, gray, gray. Depressing.

I guess I will get back to knitting, dammit. I haven't finished my mom's sweater because a bunch of crap has happened, so it will just be a gift when I finish it. I will size it on her when I see her at Christmas. Instead I had to buy her some shit. Oh well.

It's been a rough couple of months.

And this weekend was the roughest part. Starting on Friday morning (when I got approximately 3 hours of sleep) I went and took two finals. The madness just ended fifteen minutes ago, when I sent in my final paper. I am officially done with schoolwork until the resumption of classes in January. I am so glad. Something I really enjoyed and cared about ended this weekend as well, but I actually feel a bit freer and less preoccupied because of this. Bring on the vacation, bring on the knitting. I am glad I made it. I will turn 28 on Saturday, the 19th, and I think everything is going to be okay.

Hey, look, a sweater. I think.

Apparently, its really cool to sleep on a bed if you are a cat. Stubbles has been sleeping on my bed lately, and she just looks so cute and comfy that I have been letting her do it. She sleeps on the blankets, rather than the sheets, so its not a big deal. It appears that Ditto wanted some of this bed action as well. I snapped this a few days ago: I couldn't resist, they are so cute.





About 15 seconds after I took these pictures, Ditto jumped up and ran away. I guess she thought she was in trouble. Thats pretty funny, considering she doesn't ever see the problem when she decides to sit on the dining room table. It's pretty gross, and when you yell at her and tell her to get off, she just looks at you with her big, innocent, crazy eyes. Oh well.


So I am working like mad on my mom's sweater. I am almost to the end of yarn ball #3, and there are 11 balls of yarn required for this project, so I am guessing that I am about 20% done. I am so proud!
This color isn't very accurate:



This color is, though. Stubbles is looking at the sweater with such disdain! Yes, she is on the bed again. Notice that she is on the sheet now. I guess I need to make my bed so she won't lay on the sheets. Or I could stop pandering to a small hairy mammal and shut my door to keep her out. Guess which one I will do? Make the bed.

This sweater is getting pretty heavy, and is so big that I can't stretch it out on the needles. It kind of looks like a wadded mess, huh? I am to the part where it says: "Knit at least 3 rows of garter stitch, knit until the sleeves almost meet under your arms..."
Although next week will be full of knitting time as I only have 1 day of class and then 2 finals the rest of the week, I will not be able to work on this. I won't see my mom again until next Sunday, the 13th, when she comes to Little Rock to see the Nutcracker ballet with me. I really need to see if the sleeves "almost meet" under her arms. Dammit.


I guess I will start a hat for her. She requested one, and I wanted to give her one more small knit. If I finish the hat before Sunday (and I likely will) I guess I will have to cast on the Firestarters for myself. Oh no! What a tragedy! :)

For my sister.

So my sister was asking me on Facebook: when am I going to post another blog?? Right now, dear sister.

This year I decided that, due to a low level of funding, that everyone will be recieving hand knit gifts this year for Christmas. That, and the fact that I am so sick of buying and selling that I could loose my cookies. It probably doesn't help that I work in a store that sells things that are completely unnecessary, but people spend inordinate amounts of money on every week. Of course, those are the people paying my bills so let me stop while I'm ahead.

Anyway, most of the gifts that are done are my sister's gifts, so there will only be sneak peaks for you, Jamie.

I have finished a pair of felted slippers for my mom, they are called Fuzzy Feet from Knitty Winter 2002. I always knit her slipper/socks, but everytime I knit them in acrylic they would wear out really fast. I knit some for her in wool, and she caught them on a piece of stripping between her carpet and linoleum and now has a hole in them (this womas is really accident prone). In exasperation, I tried to think of what to do....and then I was reading some of Yarn Harlot's back postings, and she was making Fuzzy Feet. I thought to myself, BINGO.

Try to snag these, mom. Or wear them out in the next decade. They are felted bulky wool, as you can see they stand up by themselves.

My mom's other gift will be a cardigan, the February Lady. I was knitting on it, and kind of messed up the first buttonhole, but it was still a hole. I came to the second buttonhole, and tried really hard to get that one right. A few rows later, I realized that not only had I screwed up the second buttonhole, but it wasn't even a hole. As this is my first sweater, and a gift, and a gift for my mom, and I am kind of a perfectionist about my knitting, I am frogging back to the row of the first buttonhole. I will get to that as soon as I finish my sister's last gift, which I only need another hour or two to finish. I may even finish tonight! I won't have any pictures up since obviously she reads this blog, but I will post them soon on Ravelry, which she does not have access to. Ha ha Jamie, I told you that you should have joined Ravelry!

To end, here is something Sylvia and I had for dinner recently. Mashed potatoes with vegan butter, kale sauted in olive oil and chopped garlic, and autumn latkes from the Veganomicon. Yum!

Knitting, finally.

So while on hiatus, I have started school and all of that jazz.

Who cares, on to the knitting.

I did a craft swap with a fellow anthropology major named Lanna. I knitted her this scarf:

Special thanks to Sylvia for her modeling skills.

And got, in return, awesome hand crafted earrings. Sorry there is no pic, but I will post some soon, I hope.

I think it was a good swap, because this scarf was so nice to knit that I enjoyed it more than any other scarf I have ever knit. And it took less than a week.

I really like this yarn, and was actually thinking about knitting in up into a "Moderne Log Cabin-esque" type blanket. It is super soft, and quick to knit up and nice. However, when I washed Lanna's scarf, I discovered that it is a bit linty. In a few more washings, I think it may start to get a bit "hazy". Oh well, it is still nice and soft, and she absolutely loves it. The pattern was taken from Eunny Jang's Spectrum Scarf, which I got as part of a free download from Knitting Daily. Super simple, and I loved it. This was one project that I knit on even as I walked from class to class on campus.

On to even more knitterly news, look what I got in the mail:

I cannot even begin to express the love I have for KnitPicks. I have cast on a sweater, a real sweater, at last. I received my package in the mail on Friday around 11:30 a.m. I had to be at work at 1 p.m., but by the time I left for work I had already wound up one ball of the wool and started a swatch. I finished the swatch later that night. I got PERFECT gauge, and even knit a swatch of the lace pattern for practice. Although I did not have the size 8 circulars I needed to cast on for this project, I cast on to some aluminum straights that night. The next day I bought some new circulars for the project and I am currently happily plugging away whenever I have a spare moment. This is what I have so far:

I wish I was further, but I have had difficulty finding time to knit these days. I worked all weekend, and will work 5 days this week (!!). I also have all manners of projects and other work for school, so I am probably lucky to be as far as I am on this thing.

The pattern I am using, as it is probably not terribly obvious at this point, is February Lady. I am using KnitPicks Wool of the Andes Worsted Weight in Claret Heather. I love knitting with it, and it is beautiful. I originally wanted Sapphire, but I wanted a very heathered look and the projects with Sapphire that I saw on Ravelry didn't look very heathered. Claret looks like a reddish brown, with true red (and a few black) strands every so often. Its beautiful and I love it.

Hopefully I will find enough time to work on the sweater, it makes me pretty happy. I am planning to update more regularly (I know I always say that) because I want to keep track of the knitting of this, my first sweater. I feel like a real knitter somehow! I can't wait to see how it turns out.

Vegan and shit.

You see all of that deliciousness? All of it was made without eggs, milk, butter, cheese, eggs, or animal meat. About two months ago, I decided to eat vegan.

I was always a little disturbed by things I heard about the food industry. Cruelty to animals (during life and at death), cruelty to humans (those working in the industry as laborers), and a general lack of regard for consumers (we have to cook meat until we kill the bacteria from shit that shouldn't be on food in the first place).

I know several ex and current vegetarians, as well as some pescaterians. I, being who I am and therefore an all-or-nothing type of person, couldn't decide where to draw the line. A few years back I went several months with no chicken or eggs after I learned about the cold water baths chicken sits in as well as that almost every single egg is contaminated with salmonella. Like most people, I eventually forgot/stopped thinking about it and went back to my old ways. I have read several books about food, eating, and food production. I have read The Omnivores Delimma, Fast-Food Nation, and Spoiled. Even after this, I continued to eat meat and animal products. I know that tons of grains are used to feed animals every year while people starve and die. I continued to eat meat and animal products. I know that the fats found in animal products are linked to heart disease and other ailments. I continued to to eat meat and animal products.

Then, I had a friend recommend Skinny Bitch. It is a light read, and I was like "Okay whatever." As I read it, I saw a lot of what I thought of as silly newage-y self help-y stuff. I have never really taken diet books very seriously, and some of the things they say are not very well researched and seem a bit odd. Then, I got to the chapter whimsically labeled "The Rotting Flesh Diet".

They cited a book over and over that I had never read, Slaughterhouse. I found it and read it. This book was as good as the others I had read, but it was like the last straw for me. I didn't learn anything new, but I suppose I am in a different place than I was when I read the others, years ago. I finally said to myself, "This is gross. What am I doing to myself, and to others?"

I am not a fan of PETA. I think that their agendas don't always make sense, and thier idea of "protest" is ridiculous. However, the suffering of animals makes me sick. Even if I didn't care about that, do I want to eat suffering?? Do I want to consume the flesh of something that spent its whole life stressed and unhappy? How can that be healthy?

The answer is, it's not.

A side effect of this new way of eating is that I have to check the labels on EVERYTHING, because you would be surprised how many things butter and cheese are in, and therefore am noticing the other nasty things I don't want to eat. For example, corn syrup is in almost EVERYTHING. Even "healthy" things like Wheat Thins, even the low fat variety! I am starting to love tofu, now that I know how to cook it. I am careful to eat a variety of things so that I am getting all of my vitamins and such, and try to add nutritional yeast to things so that I get enough B vitamins. Although it is more expensive for me, I am spending money on what should be the most important expense: MY HEALTH. I try not to eat processed foods, such as the fake meats and cheeses. That is just fine, I thought they tasted awful and TOO much like meat. Also, now that I am more challenged when eating, I don't eat crap like fast food (I ate some fries the other day after more than a month of no fast food and almost vomited). I have to carefully plan what I eat. I also am challenged to cook more creatively. As someone who loves to cook, this new way of eating has opened up new challenges, and I think it is affecting me for the better.

Okay, enough of my preaching. Knitting content next time, I promise. I am almost done with the diamante sock #1.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

Well. I have been making Diamante out of Knitty. I like the weird waffle-y pattern achieved by simple ssk's and k2tog's, but I have a little problem:


THE TOE IS BAGGY!!! BAGGY! As soon as I noticed, I switched from size 2 to size 1 dpns, but that doesn't help the toe. And no I refuse to frog it. I know I am not far along, but I have frogged this yarn from a previous project (an ill fated attempt at Monkey) and I had a false start on this pattern as well. I followed the instructions for the figure 8 cast on (which I LOVE by the way, much better than the hassle of using stupid waste yarn). I then knitted the toe. Cast on 16, increase by 4 every other round for 5 rounds. Then, I looked back at the pattern and realized they wanted the method, not the exact instructions. They wanted cast on 24 increase by 4 every round for 5 rounds, then increase every other round until 72 stitches are on the needles. I tried to correct it (I hate frogging anything) but just ended up with a toe that was somewhat reminiscent of a step pyramid with two steps. It was comical looking and I probably should have taken a picture for laughs, but I was not amused at the time.


So in other words, I am not going to frog it and will try and make the best of it. Maybe I can knit the foot a little short, yes? To stretch the bagginess to fit my foot? If only my dad was still alive, or I had brothers, or a boyfriend, or a really cool uncle...but I have none of those. And giving this to one of my male roommates would be really depressing. I would have to see my awesome, stripey, waffle-y socks on thier stupid feet. The yarn wasn't cheap either, I think it was around $22. I thought about giving them to the friend who I knitted gloves for, but I don't know. He asked me for socks once, but he has probably forgotten by now. Socks are a lot of work, and kind of a big deal. You want to make sure they are really appreciated (!!!$22!!!).

BAGGYBAGGYBAGGYBAGGY.

Anyways, here are some pics of the sights on Alberta Street in Portland, Oregon. Next time, I will post the final pictures, which include some pictures from the University of Oregon, as well as shots from my frosty plane window. Laters!

I have been knitting stuff. And traveling.

I really need to try and update more frequently. That way my updates wouldn't be so ENORMOUS when I finally get around to it.

So remember Reverie? Well, I have turned this:

Into this:

You like, yes? I am pretty satisfied. I think it's for my sis, but she needs to remember that this is a wool/silk blend and she has to carefully handwash it; I will be pissed if she doesn't have it in 6 months! I am glad to use this yarn, I think it likes being this hat. I think that the colorway is very reminiscent of Autumn in the Ozarks, if the Manos de Uruguay people had ever visited, they probably would have named the colorway accordingly. I think the colorway was just a number. I really loved the pattern, like more than I have enjoyed any other pattern I have knit. As before, this is the Hermione hat by JL Yarnworks. I made it in the child's size, as I was going to run short of yarn for the adult size. However, it is plenty big enough, sometimes even too big as evidenced by smallheads like Sylvia.

Just kidding Sylvia. We all know I just have a giant head, at least figuratively.

If I do, and I probably will, knit this again, I will only have 8 or 10 rows of ribbing rather than the full 16 called for. Its a little much ribbing for my taste. Then again (and this relates to the fact that I knit the child size which is pretty big), I did not even try to check my gauge let alone get gauge, so I place all pattern un-normalcies upon my own head. The designer did a great job, and like I said it is my favorite knit project so far. Beyond enjoyable.

I especially love the top. Sorry some of my pics are blurry. Can you see the way it swirls up? As I came to the top and the finish, I loved the way it looked more and more, and began to knit faster and faster. The only time I have done this is when I get to an exciting or suspenseful part of a book, and I read faster and faster. So I think I must have achieved some kind of "knitter's high". Who gets that excited when they knit???

Here is a detail view of the pattern itself. I absolutely love it, its what convinced me to make this hat in the first place. I will definately, definately knit this again.

I know there are lots of pics, but since I am becoming a full fledged Rav Stalker, I have realized that it REALLY pisses me off when there aren't enough pictures.

As I have mentioned before, I am wanting to make a sweater after this summer. So I have decided to make one for my mom. While looking for sweaters, I would find one I like (i.e. February Lady {ravelry link}) and look through the completed projects on Ravelry. I was extremely frustrated with the pictures in which there is only ONE picture of the finished product, and no one is wearing it. I want to know about the fit, people! THE FIT!

Oh well. I am pretty dramatic.

I have been working on more things, as well. For instance, I have been finished with this baby bib for a long time. It's called the "Petal Bib", and it is in my book Oneskein by one of the editors of Interweave, Leigh Radford. I have made so many things out of that book. I love this pattern, and as you can see I have plenty of yarn left for another bib. However, there are about 7 billion ends to weave in. Obviously, that is all I have left to do...that is all I've had left to do for weeks now. Oh well, I will get around to it.

I have knit my mommy more socks, wool this time. She really likes them, and when I told her they may be too hot for the summer time, she was adamant that they would not be.

So when she got them home and put them on, she went on and on about how the wool was much softer and that this pair fit the best of all the socks I have made her. About two minutes later, she came out of her room (she was putting up laundry) and told me that maybe I was right, because her feet were getting hot.

Told you.

I rather like them. They are Lion Brand wool, I really really liked working with it. It felts easily, I hope she doesn't forget and accidentally wash one. The colorway reminds me of a flower garden. I don't know why I have been picking up pinks for the last two pair of socks. The ones before were mainly blue. I will try to be more creative next time.

So as the title of this post suggests, I have also been travelling. My mom and I went to Oregon the last 3 days of May, and we had lots of fun. My aunt and her sons live in Portland. Their neighborhood was like a garden.

These poppies were as tall as me:

I wish these steps led up to my house:

This color is beautiful; if I was adept at dying I would make a colorway in these same greens and oranges and yellows with a tiny bit of white, and call it "Poppies On Alberta Street". Lovely. A Portland designer, Star Athena, could do it. If she does, I promise to buy some of the yarn :)

I wish I had taken more rose pictures. Portland is the "city of roses" or something, and they were everywhere. Also, they were all dinner plate sized.

I love this iris color. I want some. Real bad.

Here is a picture of one of the cool buildings on Alberta Street, near my aunt's house. She is on the left, my mom is in the middle, and my cousin Andy is on the end. It was good to see them, and I wish my sister could have gone with us. My mom said that probably 10 times a day. "I wish Jamie were here. I wish Jamie could have gone with us." Me too.

My cousin Josh, who is my age, was sick, so we didn't see him. We did get to see Andy, though, and my has he grown. Considering that the last time I saw him he was 4. Now he is 18 and smokes, plays the drums, has a tattoo (at least one that I saw), and sprinkles his conversations with "fuck". I liked him. He's a cool guy.

This was the yarn shop on Alberta. I don't know what it is called, but it has a neon "yarn" sign. I want one. There were lots of great yarns, but my bank account escaped unscathed. I am probably very lucky I put an embargo on more yarn until the stash is busted.

Right next door was a fabric shop called Bolt. It was very nice. Every single print in there was awesome, a great contrast to the kitchy shit I have to sort through at every fabric shop I have ever been in. I loved it, and if I knew more about sewing, I would NOT have escaped unscathed. If I move up there (for grad school), my aunt Cathy is going to help me refine my sewing skills. Yessssss.

Well, that is by far not all the pictures I took. However, this post is long enough so I will try to post more of the trip in the coming days. In addition, I will also post pics of my current project. Can't wait, can you?